My view on it is that you can aggro X amount of mobs naturally, provided that you dealt enough damage to keep threat/aggro on them.
Using Swash Buckling will aggro Y amount of mobs around you, increasing your threat on them (you don’t have to deal damage to them).
So you can combine X+Y and you can keep aggro on all of them as long as you keep on dealing damage (especially for X). But you can also keep your threat on at least Y of them by continued used of Swash Buckling.
Swash Buckling is not going to cover your threat level on the mobs from X, only the ones on Y. This means that while you can get the attention of X+Y mobs, to keep aggro on all of them you have to keep your threat level on them within a reasonable range.
Provoke attribute takes care of this, the only problem that appears when dealing with large groups (let’s say 15+ mobs) with really high HP is the AoE Ratio of our skills, that is why using skills that don’t have any AoE Ratio limitation is better on those scenarios.
Yeah, level 15 is pretty good for Earth Tower but it is not mandatory.
Earth Tower highly depends on your party composition. Some compositions go better with a very high CON Peltasta with level 15 Swash Buckling, while other compositions get by with only using level 5 (from C1) to take away a chunk of the mobs away while the rest of the party burst down the other bunch of the mobs with their AoEs, then the Peltasta takes the rest back to finish the job.
There is no “perfect formula” to beat Earth Tower and it is a content that we are not really meant to “complete” for the moment, which makes acquiring Lolopanther equipment an unrealistic goal.
But with the amount of mobs in there (20+ per wave), Swash Buckling level 15 does come in handy, but it doesn’t benefit every party composition and pretty much requires a very high HP build because otherwise you are going to die as soon as you cast it (even full CON builds die in Earth Tower).
Any advice on stat allocation is much appreciated, i feel like Highlander would make great use of high STR but i can’t stop thinking that Fencer builds “require” you to have high DEX…
It is a build centered mostly on the use of Cross Guard to increase the Pierce damage from Fencer’s skills. While also having some debuff potential through the other Highlander skills and increase Cross Cut+Sky Liner’s combo damage with Lunge.
So there is quite a good amount of synergy in that build. As for High STR or High DEX, it depends on whether or not you want to have Evasion on your build or not.
I would say that High DEX is generally better because Cross Guard scales also with level and you are going to have a fair amount of STR on a High DEX build anyways.
On the other hand, if you are more interested on a High STR build, then I would suggest that you get Doppelsoeldner C1 instead of Fencer C2, as it would give you a pretty good amount of extra damage with the synergy between that stat allocation and Deeds of Valor (plus AoE from Cyclone!).
@Faile has a Highlander->Fencer build too and she recently posted a video with it:
Although that build is going for Shinobi on Rank 7, which is another good option if you want to keep on building on the Pierce damage, as the Shinobi skills (mainly the Kunai combo) are Pierce too.
It’s a bit tricky actually…
Do you know if dodging get priority over blocking?
Often I find myself dodging when I would prefer a block… with cross guard…
(I’m 400str/100dex at the moment)
It’s possible that if dodge has priority, if you build high dex fencer, you would have a hard time blocking to debuff.
If blocking has priority over dodge, then all is good.
I am not entirely sure which one has higher priority. My guess would be that evasion goes first since you do need to get hit to be able to proc a block.
That is true, I forgot about making Cross Guard more reliable. Thanks @Faile!
If the build is mainly aiming for Cross Guard then you do want to keep your DEX lower to have a more reliable way to activate it’s effect. So it would be more of an All Around / Hybrid build with more focus on STR.
But you would still need to get a good amount of DEX for your Critical Rate (and the extra Evasion is nice to have), so that you can complement it with gems and equipment.
I would probably give more priority to CON instead as a form of survival, since that way you will also increase your Block a little bit through it.
From your video it seems like Fencers deal a lot of multiple damages instead of burst, according to a recent forum post the more attacks your skills make, less efficient DEX is compared to STR.
So High STR/Low CON or even 7 STR : 3 CON ratio might be a more optimal build.
I woudl like to point out that i’m merely theorycrafting here, take everything i say with a grain of salt.
What do you think of a Pelt1 > Barb3 > Doppel > Fencer with High STR or All Around Build?
Do you think it’s worth it to lose fencer C2 in order to gain AoE potential with Doppel? @Cathexis@xechidna
Since I too did this build Im going to slightly object to this, while usually high DEX IS generally better for Fencer.
The only way Highlander is going to increase your dmg with piercing attacks is IF and WHEN you actually block something with cross guard, and you can still dodge while using (which is dumb IMO)
But not to mention that Cross Guard it self scales with STR.
What makes this such a difficult choice is that Fencer it self benefits more from DEX then anything else, but Highlander benefits from STR as well as Doppel, which is why @Cathexis suggests that you substitute Fencer c2 for Doppel.
So you have something in your build to make use of your STR…
But at that point I feel like your better off just going Doppel in the first place…
I typed the first part before i saw this, woops~
Huh… Going to disagree with this too…
IMO I feel like DEX and/or Crit chance is always going to out class STR for the simple fact that the Crit multiplier is (DMG on enemy +50% +STR)
So deciding oh which is better really depends on your build as a whole.
So IMO unless you have a class that dose not value DEX as much as other classes such as Hoplite, then then a high DEX build will almost always out class any other stat variant, unless you go full STR.
But you can really only go full STR if you have a class that benefits from it…
Its got decent synergy…
Probably the best of any of your other options with your current build honestly.
No Swordie really scales “well” into the late game, except maybe Dragoon… but you didn’t choose a class path that could capitalize on Dragoon…
I think this is really good actually.
Combining DOV with Frenzy and/or War Cry might net you some incredible Mob dmg when its needed.
The only downside i see is the CD on Frenzy and War Cry but its not like you need them all the time so this is not an issue.
Other then that I think its very viable with amazing mob potential, you would certainly never be out of place when tanking for dungeons.
Just make sure you go plate and add some CON to your build and you should be fine.
(some DEX is still necessary though.)
I want your opinion for this build that I created:
I think barb C2 can be better than Sword C3, because I would have a greater versatility combos (If I want some PvE) than wait for the opponent get stunned.
Corsair C1 - Iron Hook (approach skill) + Keel (bleeding).
@Cathexis, do you think this would be a viable build? Any help is very appreciated.
You didnt mention but Highlander has a passive skill which increases critical damage by 50% while wield 2H swords. That’s very important, specially if you intent to Doppel C2’s skills.
Ehh. Again its +50% Crit Attack stat, not critical damage in its entirety. You know, the one thats increased by strength and gear? Yeah, that one. Now Im not saying it cant be significant, with the right gear it can but your understanding of it is severely lacking.
Also, doppel increases physical attack. Has nothing to do with critical attack. Your post is a double fail is what Im trying to say. Please learn the mechanics before trying to explain them to others.
Isn’t healing factor enough for survival with high CON builds? If I understand right how it works, it should simply regenerate your HP at a very high rate, so the higher your HP regeneration, the faster it heals. Maybe I understood it wrong, but it looked like this for me.
Also I don’t think getting lolopanther gear is unealistic, with good comp reaching 5th floor is not that hard, and you start to get ingridients from 5th floor as I know. Some parties even reached 10th floor already.
Greetings to everyone and to our swordsman specialist Cathexis
Again i turn to this forum for advice, i just became Dragoon at level 225 and i really dont know which spears to use. Im looking to use a 1 handed spear + shield and a 2hnd spear set.
If u would be so kind as to recommend which spears and shield to use for this level i would greatly appreciate. (gear aswell if possible)
I am sw-pelt-barbc2-corsair-doppel-dragoon. i know many will say this build is suboptimal but i wanted a hybrid build which is decent for pvp and pve and so far i havent been disapointed.
In my opinion right now Doppelsoeldner C1 is a stronger circle than Fencer C2.
Fencer C2 gives you Composee, which is another nice 0 cooldown skill which gives you another variant with it being Pierce damage. Besides that you get Preparation, which isn’t that much of a good skill to be honest.
Meanwhile Doppelsoeldner gives you Cyclone, which is a great AoE that Fencer certainly lacks, that can also be buffed up by Lunge.
Deeds of Valor is on a tricky spot, it is not as reliable to stack it up with an evasion build but it is not as bad since you do still get hit as it is impossible to get 100% evasion and there are also magical attacks, etc.
You will get a nice Physical Attack increase from it. As far as the Attack Speed increase, I am unsure as to how well it plays with Fencer because we haven’t got around to test this combination of classes now that attack speed increasing skill work appropriately (they still depend on ping though). So there could be a surprise factor in here.
As a final nice plus, you get Double Pay Earn which gives you double loot (good for farming) and more EXP when killing stuff (great for bosses and especially during missions you double your EXP).
But that is just for our current level cap. This could change in the future depending on what Rank 8 classes come out, more hidden classes or Fencer C3 which could also justify taking Fencer C2 for it.
While going with Doppelsoeldner favors more STR than DEX, there is still a certain amount of DEX that is required for Critical Rate, so it is not either High STR or a High DEX build, but more of an All-Around one to maximize DPS potential.
That is my bad, I am sorry. Wasn’t on point when posting yesterday. But the same concept applies as that is how Pierce skills get enhanced by Cross Guard (and in the case of Faile, with Spear Lunge as well).
But here is one on the same boss with Highlander+Fencer:
This boss is extremely weak so the results are exaggerated, don’t take the damage being dealt on this video as an example and just focus on the interaction of skills. Also, being able to attack this fast with Composee would require a ping similar to what Koreans usually play with, which is less than 50ms.
Sure, it can work and it is a viable build.
However in the current “state” of the game is more recommended for you to get Peltasta instead of Highlander so that you can provide some utility to parties in missions, dungeons and grinding.
I would suggest to do this as well, because your build would be otherwise too weak in PvE as you are not picking Barbarian C3 to maximize it’s potential because of the priority on Corsair C1 for PvP.
If you plan to stay on Barbarian C2, then I would consider maxing out War Cry (taking points from Helm Chopper) as it would help you increase your damage a little bit more at higher levels.
I can’t guarantee that this build will have success on PvP, as that pretty much depends on you as a player. But if you are willing to give up Barbarian C3 for Iron Hook, which in the current “meta” is one of the best CC skills we have, then you will have at least one more tool to use in PvP which could or could not be of help.
Sure, it helps, but you require a PD for that. Like I said, it really depends on your party composition, that is what Earth Tower is all about.
I think unrealistic was the wrong word to use, or at least not the most accurate.
My view on this is that the majority of people playing this game will not be able to acquire Lolopanther for quite a long time if ever, considering the amount of time it takes to reach level 280 and then the time it takes to farm the materials to get every single piece of Lolopanther equipment.
While there are some “not so casual” players that are already doing Earth Tower, most of the player base is not even level 280 yet.
But some new players that don’t have that much time to play read information about the “end game”, then decide to roll on builds made for it (sometimes they even make their entire build based around having Lolopanther equipment), when in reality they are going to go through 1 or 2 months of other content first before even starting to farm materials from Earth Tower.
And sure, while some floors have been completed and essences can be acquired, that only covers a few pieces of equipment (which still take at least couple weeks of farm for each one of them). Unless my information is wrong, the essences required for weapons only drop from higher level floors, maybe only from the 20th floor.
So sure, while it is not entirely unrealistic to get Lolopanther equipment, it is not a goal that will be achieved by most players, at least in my opinion and in the current state of the game.
Which you should at least get the Gloves first, then Boots and the others whenever. You need an item from a world boss (Dullahan), so they might not be as easy to get, depending on your server. But you can always save up and buy it from the market.
